Jack Grealish: What has happened to Man City & England forward?

Jack Grealish is standing at a crossroads in his career. As one of the most expensive English footballers of all time, he should be looking forward to a thrilling Champions League knockout tie between Manchester City and Real Madrid on Tuesday. However, judging by recent experiences, he is more likely to be involved in Saturday’s FA Cup fourth-round match against League One side Leyton Orient.

Grealish has not started a game since scoring in the 8-0 FA Cup third-round win against Salford on January 11. Later that month, with Manchester City trailing at half-time in a crucial Champions League group game against Brugge, Grealish remained on the bench. Instead of turning to the £100 million player, Guardiola opted for the relatively untested Brazilian Savinho – signed from Girona for £30.8 million last summer – to try and turn the game around.

Grealish did not get on for a single minute. Guardiola was not even asked about it afterwards, such was the lack of surprise among the assembled reporters. How did we get to this point? What has happened to the England international? And does he still have a future at Manchester City?

A month before the Brugge game, Guardiola sent Grealish a clear public message, challenging him to prove he deserved to regain his place and explaining why he had chosen Savinho instead. “Savinho is playing better than Jack, in everything, that is why I pick him,” he said. “Do I want the Jack who won the Treble back? Definitely, I want it, but he has to be honest with himself. They have to fight.”

“You can say that it is unfair. If you think that, OK, but you have to show me, ‘OK, I am going to compete with Savinho to be a guy to play in that position’ – every day, every week, every month.” Despite that criticism, Grealish subsequently scored his first goal in more than a year and his first Champions League goal since 2021. But those statistics only highlighted an inescapable sense of drift – Grealish did not feature at all in the three games that followed.

Ahead of the FA Cup tie against Leyton Orient, when asked again about Grealish’s lack of game time, Guardiola said he was “so sorry” for not giving him minutes he “maybe deserved”. “It is not because I don’t like Jack,” he added. “I know his qualities, it is just that Savinho has been so impactful in terms of assists and goals.” “Sometimes a manager has to choose one player instead of another. Sometimes I am wrong… it is the life of a manager, you have to accept it.”

Some close to Grealish stress that it is not just him who has had a difficult season – the whole team has too. They argue that Grealish has been a casualty of Guardiola’s desperate solutions-seeking in response to the worst period of his managerial career. It has been pointed out that Kevin De Bruyne has also been repeatedly overlooked. They also say that it is wrong to compare the player who shone at Aston Villa with the current version at Manchester City, as he is being used in a very different way.

Indeed, one source pointed BBC Sport towards comments made by former England winger Theo Walcott, who said last month: “I see a player with unbelievable talent, which is just being coached out of him. I just feel he’s moved away from his strengths. Everything about Jack Grealish has been coached away.” Others disagree that the coach has somehow stifled the player’s creativity. “He just needs to keep working hard,” says former Villa boss Tim Sherwood, who gave a teenage Grealish his first league start a decade ago and still speaks to him regularly.

“This happens to everyone. He could walk into virtually any other Premier League team. I don’t know what Pep’s problem is, but he owes Pep a lot.” “He wants to play, but he knows what he needs to do. He just needs to keep working hard. He will bounce back, he is a top professional. He was never a ‘first choice’. I am not sure who is a first choice at Man City.”

Grealish’s difficulty in breaking into the Manchester City starting XI is nothing new. Towards the end of last season, he admitted that his 2023-24 campaign had been “stop-start”. “We have so many good players here, so it is difficult,” he added. “There is not a team in the world that rotates like this team, but that is what makes it so special.” But Guardiola still seems unsure how to assess Grealish, or even where to play him.

As recently as early December, the coach was praising his performance in a midfield role against Nottingham Forest – in what was their only win during a 13-game slump – even joking that it might have been a mistake to use him as a winger previously. Yet just a month later, Guardiola publicly suggested the player’s standards had dropped, leading to speculation that Grealish might leave in the January transfer window. That did not happen, but the arrival of forwards Omar Marmoush and Nico Gonzalez, plus the return from injury of Oscar Bobb, has brought even greater competition.

So when did Grealish’s standing in the squad really start to decline? Just 20 months ago, he was central to Manchester City’s finest hour, playing every minute of the Champions League final against Inter Milan in Istanbul. He also featured heavily in the 4-0 semi-final win against Real Madrid, and the FA Cup final victory over Manchester United. Grealish subsequently became the poster boy for Manchester City’s Treble celebrations. His drinking and lack of sleep drew plenty of attention, and he admitted to turning up for England duty “a little bit hungover”.

All of this reinforced a sense of enjoyment, authenticity and openness that made him popular with fans and team-mates alike, recalling the flamboyance of Paul Gascoigne. But it may also have caused concern among his coaches. “There is a line,” said England manager Gareth Southgate when asked if Grealish’s three days of continuous celebrations had been excessive – in what was widely interpreted as a subtle warning about keeping a lid on the revelry. “I don’t think it is a party-boy image,” said Grealish when asked if the criticism of his celebrations bothered him. “I would never sit here and lie to you and say ‘yeah, I don’t drink, I don’t party’ because I do… I am just enjoying myself, I am living the dream of playing for the best club in the world. I know what I am doing, that is me, and I am usually like that when I am partying.”

Back in 2021, Grealish and Phil Foden were both warned by Guardiola for going out after a game. Both were subsequently dropped, with the coach saying: “I pay a lot of attention to behaviour on and off the pitch.” However, the following year, when similar images emerged, Guardiola defended a group of players including Grealish, and there was no suggestion he was concerned by the Treble celebrations. But it is clear that was the high point for Grealish. In the subsequent 2023-24 season, he started only 10 games, contributing three goals and three assists in all competitions. Even when injury problems cleared up, he was largely overlooked, with Belgian winger Jeremy Doku often preferred.

Grealish hinted at a post-Treble slump, with Guardiola suggesting midway through last season that the winger needed to improve. “He is the same player, he has the same manager, the way we play has not changed,” he said. “Just his performance. That is the difference.” Grealish seemed to be more of a free spirit at Aston Villa. Manchester United wanted him, and in 2020 they had the opportunity, but ultimately opted for Dutch midfielder Donny van de Beek. One source who was working at United at the time believes the arrival of Doku after the Champions League win may have affected him.

It is also significant that last May, while praising his coach, Grealish admitted: “I have had a few struggles this season off the pitch – I don’t mind saying that – and he has helped me a lot.” A few weeks later, he again alluded to personal issues – referring to injuries, before adding: “I have also had a lot, not a lot, but a few things going on off the pitch. Sometimes people on the outside don’t see it, they just think we just play football and we are robots, but we also have lives off the pitch. Sometimes it is difficult to deal with things.”

It is understood that Grealish was referring at least in part to a burglary at his Cheshire home in December 2023, when some of his family were present while he was away playing – an incident he described at the time as a “traumatic experience” that had left him “really upset”. But there were further challenges to come. Grealish was left “devastated” by his exclusion from Southgate’s Euro 2024 squad – a decision he later made clear he disagreed with. Several sources close to the player have told BBC Sport the impact this had on him should not be underestimated. “The way he was treated by England hit him hard and had a real impact on his confidence,” said one source. “I know it had an effect.”

“It was like a hammer blow to him,” said another source who has worked closely with Grealish. “He loves playing for England and when the team is at a major tournament, there is no escaping it, wherever you are in the world. I know he found it difficult.” Grealish responded to the snub by building his own summer training camp using Juventus’ facilities, and rejecting extra time off. He was clearly keen to hit the ground running – but while he performed well during pre-season in America, he was upstaged by Norwegian youngster Bobb.

England Under-21s coach Lee Carsley recalled Grealish – starting him in games against the Republic of Ireland and Finland in September respectively, before starting him again against Finland the following month, with the Manchester City player scoring twice across the three matches. But his return to the international set-up also frustrated Guardiola, who was annoyed that England had selected Grealish again in November, despite him struggling with fitness issues. “I am always happy when the players go – when they are fit and they didn’t struggle in the previous one, two, three or four weeks,” Guardiola said at the time. “For 17 days, he didn’t train one single day… Jack had two or three setbacks in terms of injury and could not find his rhythm.” Grealish subsequently withdrew.

If his confidence has been dented by Guardiola’s barbed comments, he would not be the first at Manchester City. Last year, Kalvin Phillips – another England international who failed to convince his coach, despite costing the club £42 million when he signed from Leeds in 2022 – admitted he had been hurt by criticism of his weight. Guardiola later apologised, but it is clear that his intensity and exacting standards can take their toll. Those who know him say Grealish is a popular figure in the dressing room, grateful for what his talent has brought him, and someone who does not take himself too seriously. They claim he is also the player most likely to stop and speak to fans on site visits. With his sister Holly having cerebral palsy, his friendship with young Manchester City fan Finley Fisher (who also has the condition) has deep personal significance, leading him to celebrate a goal at the 2022 World Cup in his name. It tallies with Grealish’s self-description in a film recently released on Manchester City’s website as “down to earth”. “No filter,” he added.

Those who knew him at Villa talk of a confident but humble young man who would take time to speak to the club’s fans and staff, asking about their families and how they were. The humanity he displayed belied the image of the trendy, handsome figure popular in the headlines. “His authenticity shone through,” said one source who worked with him. Shaun Derry, who managed a 17-year-old Grealish on loan at Notts County in 2013-14, says he “misses seeing the old Jack”. Across 37 appearances and five goals in League One, Derry witnessed a young talent developing. “I feel like I saw two Jacks,” he told BBC Sport. “One was this real young, immature kid who needed to understand quickly what we wanted to do at Notts County. Of course, there was an immaturity about Jack, he was only 17.”

“So it is easy now looking back to understand what that looked like, but on the pitch there was an unbelievable confidence, bravery and personality.” “When he looks back on his career, he will see an absolutely top career, champions, experiences, international football. People will look back and probably like Jack more than they do now.” Grealish never forced a move away from Villa, his boyhood club, even when Tottenham Hotspur came calling after the club’s relegation in 2016. He stayed to help them return to the Premier League in 2019, and was seen as central to Villa’s revival, with his unwavering belief in his own talent described as “infectious”. “He made other people feel that anything was possible,” said one former Villa employee.

However, some close to Grealish also believe that Guardiola simply does not “get” the England international. He still has not got him. Grealish’s concern is whether the coach has stopped trying to get him. With the coach committed to managing Manchester City for two more seasons after this one, the next few weeks will determine whether Grealish will be around with him. “I think it’s pretty simple,” says former Premier League striker Chris Sutton. “Jack’s a level-headed lad, he knows he needs to prove himself to Pep – he knows he needs to get his head down and play well.”

“You suspect something’s happened, he may be surplus to requirements in the summer, but he always seems a decent guy, he accepts his situation and knows he needs game time to prove he has a future at Man City.” 2024 is also significant for Grealish in other ways, with him becoming a father for the first time when his partner Sasha Attwood gave birth to a daughter in September. “I think it will be a good thing and settle him down,” said one friend. “He has always had a lot of friends and activities going on. But now family and football are his focus.”

However, in a sign of Grealish’s frustration at times this season, it is known that he was upset by the jeers and taunts he received from some of the fans who once adored him, during the defeat at his boyhood club Villa Park in December. Grealish responded by holding up three fingers – believed to be a reference to the number of Premier League titles he has won since joining Manchester City. But in truth, he has little else to boast about this season. As he approaches his 30th birthday, he faces a significant challenge to reignite his club and international career, and to live up to the value and expectations his once-limitless talent generated.